"Atheism turns out to be too simple. If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning."
C.S. Lewis
"The fingers of your thoughts are molding your face ceaselessly."
Charles Reznikoff
"Art, like morality, consists in drawing the line somewhere."
G.K. Chesterton
"Humility enforces where neither virtue nor strength can prevail, nor reason."
Francis Quarles
"Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil."
C.S. Lewis
Resistance Thinking Faith
It is through the Jesus lense the Resistance Thinking seeks to explore truth about the world in which we live. In this faith section you will find articles, news and reivews that will help you explore the complexities of the Christian faith.
We will cover a broad range of topics, including: theology, church, leadership, devotions, classic Christian literature, prayer, everyday faith, apologetics, church history, Christian living, Old Testamnet, New Testament, creation, fresh expressions, epistomology...the list could go on and on!
If there is any topic you would like the Resistance Thinking team to go to work on please shoot us an email. If you have any work that could help us all to be more effective 'Resistance Thinkers' please send it in for our team to review.
"I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else." CS Lewis
Tactics is a book that brings apologetics back to its practical roots. While Greg Koukl channels the late Francis Schaeffer he presents the process of discussing our Christian convictions in an easy-to-understand formula.
The essence of Koukl's formula is the Columbo tactic. This allows someone to direct a conversation to the core of another's worldview in a gentle manner, without having to do any work. This is accomplished in three simple steps. First, we should gather information (i.e. "what do you mean by that?"). Second, we need to understand what evidence supports such a supposition (i.e. "how did you come to that conclusion?"). Finally, there may be a weakness or flaw to someone's philosophy that allows us to show them an inconsistency in their worldview.
This is a rudimentary comprehension of the Columbo tactic and a thorough reading of Koukl's book will bring significant enlightenment as to the particulars and snares that are involved in this tactic. It is also worth noting that to have any sort of impact with this tactic step 3 needs to be researched in advance. Sometimes it is a simple as picking out a fallacy in another person's logic but other times it requires an in-depth understanding of certain topics (like abortion, relativism, the historical accuracy of the Bible, evolution, homosexuality etc).
At times this book may seem to be stating commonsense. However, this provides us with a great place to start. Too many Christian young adults are blown away by seemingly superior arguments for secular humanism when they walk through the doors of university. Koukl shows us that we do not have to accept fronts on Christianity without responding. He even demonstrates how to represent in a disarming way.
Koukl constructs situations that he has been presented with through his evangelising and some of the pitfalls that we need to be wary of. These include professor's who will try and give you the burden to prove the validity of your faith; strong-willed individuals who will try and steamroll you; academics who will speak over you and even the Columbo tactic being utilised against you. Through understanding and practice we can avoid being trapped by those who are unwilling to budge from their fallacious worldviews.
This book is the beginning of the discussion, not the end. It encourages the reader to take an active involvement in the defence of Christianity and the enlightenment from naive thinking. One cannot walk away from this book feeling like they have all the answers. Koukl leaves it up to us to respond and to delve into the issues that face Christianity in our world today.
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Roy Williams, well known for writing the book God, Actually, has written a brilliant article on The Punch today in regards to the 400th Anniversary of the King James Bible. Here is an exerpt:
"Why, on the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible, are its praises being sung by so many prominent atheists?
Richard Dawkins himself, best-selling author of The God Delusion, has led the charge. In an article published in the Christmas issue of New Statesman, Dawkins hailed the KJV as an “astonishing piece of English literature”. He hoped to “encourage our schools to bring this precious English heritage to all our children, whatever their background”.
Here in Australia there have been similar calls. A few weeks ago, Prime Minister Julia Gillard got into the act. “It’s impossible to understand Western literature,” she opined, “without having that key of understanding [of] the Bible stories and how Western literature builds on them and reflects them”.....
All this is true, yet I cannot shake this conviction: much of the praise for the KJV which we are now hearing from atheists and agnostics is, at best, jejune. At worst, it is misplaced and insincere.
There is far too heavy a focus on the KJV’s status as a sort of elite cultural icon.
Dawkins is quite candid on this score. He admits that he cannot abide translations of the Bible other than the KJV, whether they are closer to the meaning of the original ancient texts or not. He wants the KJV taught in schools “not as history, not as science and not (oh please not) as morality. But as literature.”....
Click here to go to the full article on The Punch's website.
"In recent years, several self-proclaimed evangelicals, or those associated with evangelical institutions, have called into question the historicity of Adam and Eve. It is said that because of genomic research we can no longer believe in a first man called Adam from whom the entire human race has descended.
I'll point to some books at the end which deal with the science end of the question, but the most important question is what does the Bible teach. Without detailing a complete answer to that question, let me suggest ten reasons why we should believe that Adam was a true historical person and the first human being.
1. The Bible does not put an artificial wedge between history and theology. Of course, Genesis is not a history textbook or a science textbook, but that is far from saying we ought to separate the theological wheat from the historical chaff. Such a division owes to the Enlightenment more than the Bible.
2. The biblical story of creation is meant to supplant other ancient creation stories more than imitate them. Moses wants to show God's people "this is how things really happened." The Pentateuch is full of warnings against compromise with the pagan culture. It would be surprising, then, for Genesis to start with one more mythical account of creation like the rest of the ANE.
3. The opening chapters of Genesis are stylized, but they show no signs of being poetry. Compare Genesis 1 with Psalm 104, for example, and you'll see how different these texts are. It's simply not accurate to call Genesis poetry. And even if it were, who says poetry has to be less historically accurate?
4. There is a seamless strand of history from Adam in Genesis 2 to Abraham in Genesis 12. You can't set Genesis 1-11 aside as prehistory, not in the sense of being less than historically true as we normally understand those terms. Moses deliberately connects Abram with all the history that comes before him, all the way back to Adam and Eve in the garden.
5. The genealogies in 1 Chronicles 1 and Luke 3 treat Adam as historical.
6. Paul believed in a historical Adam (Rom. 5:12-21; 1 Cor. 15:21-22, 45-49). Even some revisionists are honest enough to admit this; they simply maintain that Paul (and Luke) were wrong.
7. The weight of the history of interpretation points to the historicity of Adam. The literature of second temple Judaism affirmed an historical Adam. The history of the church's interpretation also assumes it.
8. Without a common descent we lose any firm basis for believing that all people regardless of race or ethnicity have the same nature, the same inherent dignity, the same image of God, the same sin problem, and that despite our divisions we are all part of the same family coming from the same parents.
9. Without a historical Adam, Paul's doctrine of original sin and guilt does not hold together.
10. Without a historical Adam, Paul's doctrine of the second Adam does not hold together.
Christians may disagree on the age of the earth, but whether Adam ever existed is a gospel issue. Tim Keller is right:
[Paul] most definitely wanted to teach us that Adam and Eve were real historical figures. When you refuse to take a biblical author literally when he clearly wants you to do so, you have moved away from the traditional understanding of the biblical authority. . . .If Adam doesn't exist, Paul's whole argument-that both sin and grace work 'covenantally'-falls apart. You can't say that 'Paul was a man of his time' but we can accept his basic teaching about Adam. If you don't believe what he believes about Adam, you are denying the core of Paul's teaching. (Christianity Today June 2011)
If you want to read more about the historical Adam debate, check out Did Adam and Eve Really Exist? by C. John Collins...."
David Wilkerson is perhaps not a known name for Christian young adults. This is a great shame because his work and ministry has had wide-spread impact, particularly in America.
David was born May 19th 1931. Through his work he committed himself to promoting a gospel-centred doctrine while displaying an understanding of the real practical realities of ministry.
He is noted for many outstanding achievements through his life. In 1958 he created a program called Teen Challenge. This ministry touched the lives of so many teens who were caught up in issues ranging from drugs to gang affairs and even prostitution. This ministry is still doing strong rehabilitation work today.
David Wilkerson became a household name, however, for co-writing the book The Cross and the Switchblade in 1963. This book speaks of gang member Nicky Cruz’s transition because of Wilkerson preaching the gospel to him.
David Wilkerson died last Wednesday, three weeks from his 80th birthday. His time on earth is just a small speck compared to human’s long and chequered history of our relationship with our maker. Yet for so many people he has had a profound effect on their understanding on life, priorities and what it means to really engage with some of the darkest clutches of Satan’s power.
Here is a video that epitomises his work:
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Second, we need to understand what evidence supports such a supposition (i.e. "how did you come to that conclusion?"). Finally, there may be a weakness or flaw to someone's philosophy that allows us to show them an inconsistency in their worldview.
Koukl constructs situations that he has been presented with through his evangelising and some of the pitfalls that we need to be wary of. These include professor's who will try and give you the burden to prove the validity of your faith; strong-willed individuals who will try and steamroll you; academics who will speak over you and even the Columbo tactic being utilised against you. Through understanding and practice we can avoid being trapped by those who are unwilling to budge from their fallacious worldviews.